FT NEWS

Love them or hate them, one thing is for sure - sneakers have finally entered the mainstream and are here to stay. The past few years have presented insurmountable volumes of evidence to support these claims. As we see this trend cement itself into the mainstream, here are a few trends that we think will shine bright throughout 2022. Keep your eyes out.

Slides: pushing the boundaries of comfort centric fashion - slides have seen a solid boom within 2021. We saw a wide release of Yeezy slides, several brands got innovative with design and functional innovations and Balmain might’ve found just what’ll bring them back to being cool with their eccentric slide designs that they teased on Instagram. I think 2022 will see deeper acceptance of all footwear within this category. Slides, foam runners, crocs, things like that.

Luxury Design House produced sneakers: We saw Virgil create waves when he joined LV. His first collection was definitely beautiful but I think 2022 is the year this theme of production will enter the normal. Gucci and Balenciaga’s collab, LVs new trainer, LV x Nike Af1s, all support the same. Luxury sneakers for the longest time were fully looked down upon within the world of sneakers. This is changing and 2022 is the year we see it’s strongest acceptance.

Last but not the least, and our personal favourite - vintage sneakers. -New balances, the off white x Jordan 2s, and other such sneakers have done wonders for driving popularity for this trend. You don’t have to spend a million bucks to feel like it in the universe of hype anymore. Similar to how AF1s were always cool - we’ll see a lot more vintage oriented sneakers be cool again.